Trung Phan@TrungTPhan6h ago

LVMH-backed PE firm L Catterton acquired a majority stake in HYROX, valuing the fitness race at ~$700m. In 2026, HYROX is projected to make $270m (2x sales in 2025) across 121 events in 34 countries. That includes 1.5 million participants paying $80 to $160 to compete (with another 1.4 million spectators paying $10 to $25 to watch). All while doing zero paid advertising.  HYROX was founded in 2017 by Christian Toetzke (athletic events entrepreneur) and Moritz Fürste (an Olympic gold-medal winning German field hockey player). They set out to make a standardized indoor race that millions of gymgoers could pick up mixing cardio and weights. The race: 1km followed by a functional workout (eg. burpees, sled push) repeated 8 times. The pair went gym-to-gym to get the race off the ground. By 2019, there were only 3,000 participants (grown 500x since).  The entire thing almost went bankrupt during COVID. In 2022, they sold a majority stake to a Swiss sports marketing company backed by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda. Toetzke (CEO) and Fürste teamed up with L Catterton to buy it back and go all in om expansion, including trying to get HYROX into the Olympic Games over the next decade.  *** Background via CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/06/10/hyrox-started-with-650-people-this-year-it-will-reach-1point5-million.html L Catterton: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-09/l-catterton-led-consortium-acquires-majority-stake-in-hyrox